El auto compacto tiene transmisión automática.

The compact car has automatic transmission.

Breakdown of El auto compacto tiene transmisión automática.

• tener: to have
• el auto compacto: the compact car
• la transmisión automática: automatic transmission

Questions & Answers about El auto compacto tiene transmisión automática.

Why is it el auto and not la auto?

Because auto is a masculine noun in Spanish. It is a shortened form of automóvil, which is also masculine, so it takes el:

• el auto
• el automóvil

In Spanish, noun gender is grammatical, so this is something you usually just learn with the noun.

Why does the sentence use el instead of un?

El usually means the, so it normally refers to a specific compact car.

• El auto compacto tiene transmisión automática. = The compact car has automatic transmission.
• Un auto compacto tiene transmisión automática. = A compact car has automatic transmission.

So el is used when the car is already known, identified, or understood from context.

Why is compacto after auto?

In Spanish, most descriptive adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• auto compacto = compact car

That word order is the normal one. Putting compacto before the noun would sound unusual here.

Why is it tiene and not es?